The optical disc, including the formats such as CD, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray Disc etc., are more and more popular for data storage and exchanging today. From CD music, DVD movie, digital photo, to business document and computer software, the optical disc are widely used in business and personal life. People often need to duplicate multiple disc as gifts to their friends, or memo to their business partner, or just as a backup. However, the only equipment which can be used today in home and office is the personal computer (PC), and it can burn, normally, one disk a time. So if multiple duplication disc are needed, someone has to repeatedly pick up and insert the discs manually.
On the other hand, users in the media production industry can resort to professional autoloader machines to handle the large volume duplication job (hundreds to thousands, or even millions). Examples for large volume duplication include the prior art of Lee et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,918, Miller U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,298, Miller U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,612, Miller U.S. Pat. No. 6,532,198, and Miller U.S. Pat. No. 6,822,932. There is a gap between the large volume duplication job and single duplication job by PC.
Although, several products in the marketing can be used as alternative ways to fill the gap, all of them have their limitations. For example, the duplication tower with multiple writer drives in a stack can burn multiple discs at a time. But it requires constant human intervention to manually pick up and feed in optical discs.
With the changing demands for the small volume duplication autoloader, the reusability and expansibility has become more and more important and a key factor in software and mechanical development practice. In this invention, the design structure can be extended from one write drive to multiple drives in a stack, and the capacity of each slot in the drawer can be extended further. But the design concept, outlook, and most of the key components will remain consistent within these extended versions.
Most optical disc copiers today need to be hooked up with computers. Their operations are complicated, as a result. Present invention envisions the design and construction of an optical disc copier/loader to be a stand-alone system with easy user interface. However, at the same time, this invention can easily connect with PC through cable such as USB cable, so that users can access the built-in hard drive and other resources bundled to a PC in this invention.
The storage of optical disc before or after the duplication is another concern for the users. In this invention, the drawer (containing two trays) can be used as the working platform when it is pulled out and at the same time, can be used as an extra storage when it is pushed in.